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Los Andes Copper (TSXV: LA) reported on Thursday “excellent initial results” from ongoing drilling at its 100% owned Vizcachitas project in Chile.
Vizcachitas is a copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit located 120 km north of Santiago, containing a measured resource of 254.4 million tonnes grading 0.439% copper and an indicated resource of 1.03 billion tonnes grading 0.385% copper.
An aggregate of 732m have been drilled since the program started last fall. This was all completed in drill hole CMV-001B, which had an estimated average grade of 0.51% copper equivalent. The average grades include 0.46% copper and 160 ppm molybdenum from 64m to 820m down the hole.
“Hole CMV-001B is important for two reasons: firstly, it demonstrates and confirms the scale of the good grades at Vizcachitas starting from the collar in rock; secondly, the hole is near the western limit of the resources and shows clear potential for further resources to the west,” CEO Michael Jones said in a news release.
Assay grades for the interval reported for silver are still pending, as are the values from 820m down the hole to end of hole at 1,265.15m. Silver typically reports to roughly 1% of the value on the deposit.
Meanwhile, drilling is continuing with four drill rigs at Vizcachitas with the objectives of expanding the resources within the open pit designs and to explore the deposit below the boundaries of the open pit designed in the 2019 Preliminary Economic Assessment.
The current Phase 1 drill program will then expand from four to five drill rigs, with 18,000m of drilling planned. The full Phase 1 drill program consists of 30,000 metres of drilling, with potential for further expansion.
Shares in Los Andes Copper rose 4.6% by noon EDT in Toronto following the latest drill results. The company has a market capitalization of C$382.5 million ($301.8m).
